Algeria has been shaken by important strikes and protests in the last
few months. The beginning of 2010 has ushered in a new phase of social
turmoil, putting the country’s Bouteflika regime in a critical position.
Large sections of the working class and poor are fed up with the
continuing crisis facing the country, with low wages, lack of social
facilities, endemic unemployment, attacks on democratic rights and
generalised corruption at the top.

Despite the emergency laws, introduced by the regime during the ‘black
years’ of the civil war and terrorism in the 1990s, which are used to
criminalise protests and ban public demonstrations, the masses are
defying the regime and its repressive apparatus. Protests, revolts and
riots have multiplied in the last period throughout the country,
revealing the continuing degradation of the living conditions of much of
the population. The beginning of two indefinite strikes, hitting the two
biggest Algerian industrial areas at the beginning of the year, marks a
new phase of the class struggle in the country.

Police surround striking Rouiba workers

The Rouiba strike

“We are working in subhuman conditions. Our wages don’t allow us to feed
our families, in a country full of wealth, while the people in power
earn at least 20 times what we get”. (one of the leaders of the Rouiba
strike movement, in “Alger Republicain”, 12/01/2010)

The most impressive struggle has undoubtedly been waged by the workers
of the heavily industrialised area of Rouiba, in the eastern suburbs of
Algiers, where there is the biggest concentration of factories in the
whole country. This strike has paralysed economic activity in this area
for about two weeks.

The Rouiba strike started on 3 January, in the workshops of the
state-owned SNVI factory (National Society of Industrial Vehicles),
where vehicles and trucks are produced. The main demands of the 5,500
workers of this factory were for an increase in wages and a reversal of
changes in the retirement system, following a rotten agreement signed
with the management by the trade union bureaucracy (of the CGTA -
Confederation Generale des Travailleurs Algeriens - the official trade
union confederation), which reduces pensions and prolongs the number of
working years necessary before retiring. Being forced to work longer
before getting a pension is a very sensitive issue in a factory where
most of the workers have developed diseases linked to their working
conditions and contact with chemical products.

Banners were put on the gates of the factory: “For a wage increase”,
“For decent purchasing power”, “Don’t touch my pension” etc. On 7
January, several other public and private factories in the area (Anabib,
Hydro Amenagement, Cammmo, Pepsi Cola, etc.) joined the movement,
gathering more than 11,000 workers. The ten other SNVI units located in
different parts of the country (Oran, Constantine, Tizi Ouzou, etc.)
also went on strike. The mood in Rouiba was very militant, and the
workers were determined to struggle until victory and for all of their
demands to be met. They stated they were ready to spend “a whole year in
the street”.

The regime deployed a huge number of police and security forces in
Rouiba, surrounding the whole industrial complex to isolate the workers
and to prevent workers from the outside joining them in solidarity. In
the same way, they tried to isolate the different striking factories
from each other and to stop workers from converging and meeting
together. Thousands of men huge resources have been used to suppress the
movement, and groups of workers and demonstrators were violently beaten.
Ironically, the water pumps and trucks used by the police to repress the
movement were built by the SNVI workers themselves!

The huge number of “anti-riot” police forces deployed in the area, the
scale of which has never been seen in this area before, is an indication
of the fears of the regime that this inspiring struggle could spread
throughout the whole country. The establishment still bears in mind that
the 1988 movement – a mass uprising, which lead to the end of one-party
FLN rule - started from the same SNVI factory in Rouiba. But this brutal
repression, as well as allegations coming from the Ministry of Work and
Social Security, Tayeb Louh, implying that the Rouiba workers were
‘manipulated’, that “the strike has nothing to do with the workers” (!),
or that “it is not the workers who are behind these demands”, have only
contributed to increasing the anger and determination of the strikers.

Roubia workers

Treacherous role of the union leadership

This strike has also revealed the huge gap between the workers and their
so-called representatives in the leadership of the CGTA, who have been
working hand in hand with the regime since the beginning of the dispute.
The majority of the workers have clearly denounced the treacherous role
played by the union bureaucracy throughout their struggle. Sidi-Said,
the general secretary of the CGTA, who first signed the rotten deal with
management, was denounced by the strikers as a traitor. The national
CGTA leaders refused to give any support to the movement, and eventually
intervened in the struggle in an attempt to persuade the workers to
finish it without any guarantee of gains, praising the so-called
(inexistent) ‘efforts’ of the government and using empty promises and
intimidation (such as threatening the workers who continued with the
strike with being sacked). One union representative openly admitted that
they had intervened “in order to avoid a new 1988”.

The outcome of the dispute seems unclear at the present time, but what
is clear is that the workers will not be duped so easily. They have, for
now, suspended their strike temporarily, but on the condition that all
of their demands are satisfied, and with the preparedness to re-commence
their action at any moment. This is absolutely vital; the Rouiba workers
must stand firmly against any attempts to manoeuvre behind their backs.
Through their example and their determination, in standing up against
the repressive state, the official media and their own union leadership,
the Rouiba workers have shown the way forward, opened the floodgates,
and set the scene for the militant struggles that will develop in the
coming period.

600,000 workers on strike throughout the country

The daily Algerian newspaper, “L’Expression”, in its 19 January issue,
commented: “The social situation is boiling like a volcano which could
wake up at any time.” The same paper estimated the total amount of
workers on strike in the country at 600,000 in various sectors. Amongst
them, teachers and public health workers have been on strike for the
past three weeks, with an extremely high level of participation. In some
hospitals and healthcare institutions, strikes are close to 100% solid.

Another front has been opened with the indefinite strike launched on 12
January by the 7,200 workers of the El-Hadjar steel complex in Annaba
(East of the country). The El-Hadjar factory was formerly the property
of the Algerian state, but was privatised in October 2001, when 70 % of
the shares were bought by the Indian company Ispat, a member of the
world steel giant, ArcelorMittal. The workers went on strike after the
management announced the shutting down of the coking plant, threatening
320 jobs in the factory. In reaction, the bosses decided not to pay
January’s wages to the 7,200 workers. The strikers showed their militant
spirit by answering that they were ready to sacrifice even February’s
wages, in order be successful sin keeping the coking plant open.

Youth protests

Growing social revolt

“We don’t have any other means to claim our right to work, housing and a
decent life. We cannot bear the sea of misery anymore, while billions of
dollars are hijacked from the oil company” (a demonstrator, reported in
“El Watan”, 18/01/2010)

Meanwhile, the Algerian masses have demonstrated their anger in several
cities and villages, which have exploded in local riots and clashes with
the police, with the blocking of roads and occupations of local
administrations. In the last weeks, demonstrations of several hundred
young unemployed people have taken place in numerous cities and towns.
Not one day passes without protests taking place somewhere in the
country. Housing shortages, the horrific state of the roads, lack of
drinkable water or public transport, deficiencies in healthcare
provisions, and the miserable living conditions of the majority have
triggered a wave of local revolts, spreading like wildfire.

Mass unemployment, the black market and emigration: dark future for
young people

Young people, severely hit by the lack of jobs, are at the forefront of
these protests and riots. Two-thirds of young Algerians are unemployed.
The official statistics from the Algerian government speak of a 10%
unemployment rate in the country. This is an absurd claim! Everybody
knows that the real level of unemployment is far higher. The Algerian
newspaper “El Watan” recently commented, “The presidents of the APCs
(Communal Assemblies), interviewed about the issue of jobs in their
localities, invariably answer that the level of unemployment is above
50%.” Youth unemployment has become an acute problem, offering
absolutely no future to a whole generation, destined to survive through
working in the “parallel economy”, drug dealing, or risking their lives
by attempting to cross the Mediterranean Sea to Europe. The statistics
show a sharp increase, in the last years, of the number of ‘Harragas’ -
Algerian people who try to flee their country by any means, despite the
the government’s heavily repressive legislation aimed at curbing this
phenomenon.

Algerian President, Abdelaziz Bouteflika

Wave of corruption scandals

Big corruption scandals have also erupted in the last period, with some
highly-positioned officials in the State apparatus and public
institutions implicated. The latest scandal involved the Chief Executive
of Sonatrach, the state oil company, accused of having received bribes
in exchange for awarding contracts to Sonatrach suppliers. These
scandals are fuelling the rage of ordinary people, facing growing
poverty, with repression the only response from the government to their
problems.

The Algerian regime is under mounting pressure; in a ‘presidential
instruction’ on 13 December 2009, Algerian President, Abdelaziz
Bouteflika gave some advice to so-called ‘controlling institutions’ - to
take more serious measures against corruption and the hijacking of
public money. This instruction orders officials to pay particular
attention to the “exterior signs of wealth” of some high functionaries,
which could appear as “too sudden and too ostentatious”. In other words:
they can steal money, but it has to be done discreetly, to avoid any
political or social inconvenience.

Nobody can trust that Bouteflika, who was re-elected in April of last
year on the basis of a massive fraud, wants to tackle the problem of
corruption seriously. Some officials suspected of massive corruption,
but close to the President, have been protected from any form of
punishment and are living in total impunity. This is the case for the
Minister for Health, and of the ex-President of the National Assembly
among others, who have both used their positions to hijack public money
for their own purposes. The recent judiciary measures taken against some
influential people in response to allegations of corruption are only
destined to appease the tensions and growing anger against the corrupt
rulers, putting the blame on the shoulders of a handful of isolated
‘irresponsible’ people.

Workers and youth need their own political voice

Bouteflika came to power for a third term, using vague populist promises
to create jobs and social housing. However, the contrary has been the
case. For years, the majority of the population have not seen any
improvement in their living standards; the social situation has only
become more desperate by the day. Through the dismantling of state-owned
companies, privatisation and massive corruption, a thin layer of the
super rich, most of them coming from the old established political and
military elite, has developed on the back of the rest of society. The
huge sums generated from oil revenues, which accounts for 97% of
Algerian exports, have not been spent to improve living conditions and
provide jobs for the majority, but have only benefited leaders closed to
Bouteflika’s clan and military officials, who live luxurious lives,
while working people and the unemployed fall deeper into poverty and
hunger.

There is a ‘wind of 1988’ blowing through Algeria. The end of the
one-party regime and the gains of the 1988 movement have been reversed
by the Bonapartist clique in power. But new generations are now entering
into struggle, determined to fight for a better future. The Algerian
working class has a long history of fighting traditions. The workers,
youth and unemployed will need to provide themselves, in the fire of
events, with independent and democratic organisations, through which
they can organise on a national scale, and develop a fighting programme
to defeat the ruling class, and proceed to socialist change. Democratic
socialism, a system society is run by the workers themselves, to meet
the needs of all, offers the only way out. The CWI fights on a
world-basis for such an alternative.

Our demands:

For the full recognition of independent and democratic trade unions!
The cowardly “leaders” of the UGTA must be kicked out and replaced by
a democratically elected leadership with the full confidence and trust
of union members

Stop the brutal repression against social movements! Re-establish the
right to public protest and all democratic rights

No to miserable conditions for the unemployed! For the universal right
to unemployment benefits, linked to the real cost of living

For decent wages for all workers! For massive public investment in
socially useful jobs and public services

For the organisation of a national day of protest. Struggle committees
must be formed in the workplaces and in the communities to co-ordinate
the struggle on a national level. An appeal for a 24-hour general
strike could have an immense impact in unifying the different sectors
in struggle into one powerful response against the policies of the
government

Privatised companies must be re-nationalised. Public companies must be
taken out of bureaucratic, corrupt mismanagement. Both must be placed
under the democratic control and management of the working class,
through democratically elected representatives, subject to recall, and
living on a workers’ wage

For a new mass workers’ party, based on the struggles of workers and
youth, to make the case for socialist change.

For a workers’ and peasants’ government, based on a democratically
planned economy in order to use the resources of the country for the
benefit of all, not for the profits and enrichment of a minority